Food poisoning and health insurance in Hong Kong

The holiday season is upon us. With both Christmas break and Chinese New Year within a month of one another you can bet that many people in Hong Kong will have a busy next few months visiting relatives, friends, company receptions, and possibly even traveling home or to one of the many regional destinations within easy reach of the city. With all this celebrating and traveling there is a good chance that you will be eating out more than regularly there is an increased chance that you could pick up a nasty case of food poisoning.

Food poisoning in Hong Kong

The end of October/first week of November 2016 saw a number of foodborne illness cases reported on by major news networks in Hong Kong, with the most prominent being 35 people falling sick with food poisoning caused by thanksgiving dinner at a popular western restaurant in the city.

This recent outbreak, while unfortunate, has again brought food safety to the attention of people in Hong Kong, which saw 254 confirmed foodborne illness outbreaks in 2015.

To be perfectly honest here, historical data on food poisoning published by the Center for Food Safety in Hong Kong released earlier this year found that the number of food poisoning outbreaks in the city has generally decreased since 2006. This is largely contributed to the fact that the Department of Health and the Center for Health Protection (CHP) have mandated that food poisoning is a ‘statutory notifiable disease’.

This means that all confirmed cases of food poisoning need to be reported by doctors for investigation by either the CHP or the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department. While actions taken by various government bodies have resulted in fewer cases of food poisoning, there is always a chance that you will get sick.

It is important that you are aware of the major types of food poisoning, how to avoid it, and whether care will be covered by your health insurance.

Common types of food poisoning

Before looking into the common types of food poisoning, it would be a good idea to define it. Food poisoning is actually an umbrella term used to describe any illness that is caused by tainted food. According to the WHO’s latest report on the global burden of foodborne illnesses, there are thirty-one foodborne hazards causing 32 diseases that are generally accepted as ‘food poisoning’.

In Hong Kong, the various hazards that cause food poisoning are grouped into four different elements referred to as ‘causative agents’:

• Bacterial – Illness caused by food that has come into contact with harmful bacteria. According to the Center for Food Safety (CFS) in Hong Kong, bacterial-based food poisoning outbreaks made up just over 78% of all cases reported cases of food related illness in 2015. While there are many types of bacteria that cause illness, Salmonella, Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Clostridium perfringens are the three most common bacterial causative agents in the city.
• Viral – Illness caused by food that has come into contact with harmful viruses. According to the CFS in the city, Norovirus is the single most common viral causative agent, making up close to 9% of all food poisoning cases in the city in 2015. Interestingly, almost all food poisoning cases attributed to norovirus are caused by the consumption of raw or improperly prepared bivalves e.g., clams, mussels, cockles, etc.  
• Chemical/Biotoxin – Illness caused by either the consumption of toxin created in nature (biotoxin) or food tainted with a man-made toxin (chemical). A good example of biotoxin illness includes the consumption of improper preparation of a puffer fish e.g., fugu. When it comes to food-related illnesses caused by chemical toxins, the most common causative agent is pesticides.
• Other – A broad category used by governmental agencies in Hong Kong as a kind of catch-all for causative agents that can’t be classified by any of the above categories. An example here would be if you get sick from food, tests are run but they come back inconclusive as to the cause of the illness. Some parasites e.g., tapeworms or flukes will also be included in this category.

While the various causative agents above will lead to a wide variety of different symptoms, there are a number of common symptoms attributed to food poisoning which include:

• Strong cramps in lower stomach and abdomen
• Nausea or vomiting
• Loss of appetite
• Mild to high fever
• General feeling of weakness
• Headaches
• Diarrhea

Interestingly, of all of the different diseases across the different categories above, over half of them are diarrhea-related diseases. According to the WHO, Diarrhoeal diseases make up half of the global burden of food illness with the four most common diseases being:

• Norovirus (viral)
• Campylobacter (bacterial)
• E. coli (bacterial)
• Non-typhoidal Salmonella (bacterial)

How to avoid food poisoning

Generally speaking, the vast majority of food poisoning cases in Hong Kong are caused by the improper preparation of food. According to the CFS, the five most common causes of food poisoning in Hong Kong are, “Contamination by raw food / utensil, Inadequate cooking / reheating, Improper holding temperature, Consumption of contaminated raw food, and Poor personal hygiene of food handler.”

Knowing this, there are a number of things you can do to minimize the chances of getting ill from food. One of the best resources specific to the prevention of food poisoning in Hong Kong is the CHP, which has published this handy guide. While the tips in the guide are primarily for prevention of food illness at home, it does provide some tips that can cross over to prevention while you are eating out.  

For example if you are eating out you can minimize the chance of getting food poisoning by:

• Ordering fresh food. This is especially important if you are going to be eating at a buffet. If the food looks like it has been sitting out for a while, it’s best to avoid it.
• Try to minimize the consumption of raw/undercooked products. This includes meats like pork, chicken, some seafood, and beef.
• Look at the cleanliness of the restaurant and the staff. If the restaurant is dirty (dirty floors, tables, garbage strewn about) or the staff look unclean (dirty aprons at the start of the day, dirt under fingernails, etc) then it may be advisable to avoid eating there.
• Watch out for specials. A common trick in the food industry is to take leftover food, or food that is about to go off and create a ‘daily special’ with it. Certainly not every restaurant does this, but it does happen more than you might like to think about. The problem here is that by using previously cooked food or old food, you drastically increase the chances of getting sick especially if it has not been stored properly.  

When to see a doctor

As we mentioned above, the government and its various health and food safety divisions are actively trying to reduce the number of food poisoning outbreaks in the city, but the number of these incidents will never reach 0. This means that there is always a chance you might get sick from your food.

If you do, it is important to know when you should see a doctor. Most health experts recommend seeing a doctor if you have symptoms that last for longer than a couple of days, or if they get worse over 1-2 days. However, if you notice blood in your stool or vomit, have a high fever, are taking any diuretics, or experience symptoms that have come on abruptly, it may be a good idea to go to the A&E/doctor ASAP as these could be symptoms of a more serious case.

This is especially important if you get ill after eating out at a restaurant as doctors are required to report these cases to the CHP and other relevant bodies for further investigation.    

Will food poisoning be covered by my health insurance?

The good news here is that all health insurance plans will usually cover food poisoning-related care. The only time care might not be covered is if you were doing something illegal that led to you being poisoned. This is because insurers will usually reserve the right to provide coverage if you are found to be doing something illegal and are subsequently harmed.

That said, if your illness is serious enough you may be hospitalized for a few days or in some cases weeks. This could lead to a rather large bill especially if you seek care from the private sector. It would therefore be a good idea to secure quality health insurance that will ensure you’re covered for any event.

Talk with the team at Pacific Prime Hong Kong today to learn how we can help you find the best health insurance on the market.  

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Jess Lindeman

Content Strategist at Pacific Prime Hong Kong

Jessica Lindeman is a Content Strategist at Pacific Prime. She comes to work every day living and breathing the motto of "simplifying insurance", and injects her unbridled enthusiasm for health and insurance related topics into every article and piece of content she creates for Pacific Prime.

When she's not typing away on her keyboard, she's reading poetry, fueling her insatiable wanderlust, getting her coffee fix, and perpetually browsing animal Instagram accounts.

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